Saturday, July 7, 2007

Summer Clean-Up Challenge, Volume 2, Chapter 1

Okay, Lisa's challenge really got me motivated. So I decided I had so much fun yesterday, that I'd do it again today. The messy living room was just practice. Child's play. Today I decided to start the REAL worst room in the house - my kitchen/dining room.

Technically, the kitchen part wasn't bad. There's very little counter space, so I TRY to keep it cleared off. Our dishwasher doesn't work, so I need to wash and dry the dishes by hand and prefer them put away and my sink dry and shiny (a la FlyLady). I like FlyLady, but it's obvious from my mess that I've become a backsliden FlyBaby.

Now, there is no way I can clean up my entire Worst Room in just one day. It's really a doozy. So this will be a series. This will be the Summer Clean-Up Challenge, Volume 2, Chapter 1.

One thing FlyLady talks about is HotSpots. My kitchen/dining room is chock full of HotSpots. What is a HotSpot? Any horizontal surface that is a magnet for STUFF. The biggest HotSpot in our kitchen/dining room would be the bright yellow, 14 foot long counter that separates the kitchen from the dining area. It is a BIG HotSpot and attracts STUFF from every member of the family. And some visitors, too. So I figured this would be a perfect place to start.

I have a love/hate relationship with this counter. I love the expanse of horizontal space, but hate that it ALWAYS collects STUFF. Right now because of lack of space, I use this counter for my scrapbook classes. It works great. And next Friday I will be having my monthly scrapbook class. I traditionally wait until, oh, say Thursday to clean up. I hate that I wait until the last minute. But I always do. So Lisa's challenge is going to help me break my bad habit.

Have you noticed that I've been rambling and putting off the moment of truth? Okay, here it is....

Yipes! What a lot of STUFF!!!

Okay, here's after:

Hey! Even the hanging laundry is gone from the background and the door to the laundry room is closed! (It won't remain thus - the cat box is in the laundry room. Plus the door doesn't stay closed for some weird reason.)

Okay, these are close-ups because the immediate view might not have been quite shocking enough. Some things on here are from the last time we went grocery shopping - they were "planted" and I think have grown roots! Brooke's friend's toothbrush, left from a sleepover. The girls' chore chart that has OBVIOUSLY not been used except for doodling. A volt meter that Steve added. Craft projects, construction paperwork, food, half-drunk bottles of water.

Oh my. It just gets worse. Scrapbooking paraphernalia. Folded work shirts. More water bottles. Embossing stuff. A cake plate that was borrowed by my SIL for Father's Day and returned.

Another view of the disaster. See Morgan in the background NOT HELPING.

Wow! Where'd everything go?

Here are my ink pads for scrapbooking, surround by all sorts of STUFF.

Now you see it, now you don't! The ink pads "live" here, along with my scrapbooking essentials bag. Steve cannot wait for our new house, where we will have a place for my scrapbooking stuff that will NOT encroach upon the kitchen. Or dining room. Or living room. Or any other room where Steve wants to be.

Here's the end of the counter, covered with Pampered Chef stuff.

Still the Pampered Chef corner, but much neater.

This is my cutting/embossing station. Nowhere else has a flat surface near an outlet. At least now you can get to it! No longer buried! Hurray!

9 comments:

You've GOT to quit taking pictures of my house while I'm not looking.lol We also have one of those loonnnggg counters that collects stuff no matter what I do. In fact, it's full right now. You are putting me to shame.lol I only have 2 baskets and 2 picture frames that actually GO on that counter but right now, I bet you couldn't find them for the mess.

Seriously, you are doing a great job! I'll be watching for Chapter 2.lol

Ginger, you did a great job! Everything looks so wonderful. I think I could do the same with my house and some generous use of the Photoshop cloning tool ("I'm gonna erase that clutter right out of my picture. Sing it with me girls").

Well, Cynthia, to be honest, every room in my house needs much more than attention. "Emergency medical help" might be closer to the truth! I think I mentioned in one of my posts, picking the "worst room" was definitely a difficult task because they were all so desparately in need of assistance!

We have the same troubles with our counter between our kitchen and eating area. Robert will stack everything on it in an attempt to get all the junk together. I'll move it to the table. He'll move it back. (Or maybe it's the other way around?) Ugh!